Jessica Ghawi was, to say the least, unlucky. She was the 24-year-old sports journalist who survived a mass shooting in a Toronto shopping mall last month, only to decide to go to the premiere of the new Batman movie, in Denver on Friday. Even by North American standards, to run into two deranged, would-be mass murderers, armed to the teeth and lusting for blood, within a few weeks was an unlikely coincidence. A fatal one, in her case.
President Obama promised that - I quote - "out of this darkness a brighter day will come" - it won't, of course, because he won't do anything about guns and the culture of his society, like ours, is becoming ever more infantile.
The Colorado killer was an unstable loner - even his parents thought he was seriously weird - yet he was able legally to buy a semi-automatic assault rifle, two pistols and a pump action shotgun, not to mention 6000 rounds of ammunition, poison gas and explosives.
America's love affair with the gun is inexplicable. The second amendment to the constitution, establishing the citizen's right to bear arms, was drafted when Americans needed muskets to fight off redcoats, and go hunting buffalo. They're now the world's only superpower, the redcoats' successors would have trouble invading the Isle of Wight and most Americans do their hunting in MacDonalds. Yet half the population lives in a household with a gun.
Children and madmen love guns for the same reason - they make the weak feel strong. The gun's transformative power gives the inadequate the drop on those he fears and envies. It is a magic wand for immature saddos. In a properly run country, wanting a gun would automatically disqualify you from ever owning one.
So much, so obvious. What about Batman? How much is he to blame? The Denver mass murderer dressed up as the Joker and replayed one of his celluloid crimes. It would be easy, too easy, to talk about copy-cat killings and get all facile and righteous. Anyway, it's worse than that.
When did kid's comics become the staple fare of supposedly adult entertainment? Okay, the 'superhero' (pause to register the meaningless linguistic inflation that reduces mere heroes to the ranks) has production values, a little ambiguity and the odd wry aside. But the superhero movies are infantile in the sense that life is reduced to an elemental battle between good and evil, when reality is nothing of the sort. Those we regard as most evil - those who administered the Holocaust, or Apartheid,for instance, maybe even these mad mass murderers, thought their objectives were noble, even if their methods were regrettable.
What's the difference between them and the Superhero's vigilantism... which is all about fighting criminals by submitting them to endless violence at the hands of men in masks. Batman's director says his work is an exploration of ends justifying means - Himmler would probably have said the same.
It's not just a matter of all this cosmic kick-ass desensitising our moral judgement. Superheroes rehash old myths that lure us into dangerous simplicities. They have a journey - child of privilege, born to distinguished parents. The parents somehow have to abandon him, he is saved by a surrogate carer.. then he grows up, discovers his origins and finds his purpose. Sounds familiar? Not just Batman and Superman, but Tarzan, Hercules, Oedipus, Moses -and, well, Jesus.
It's time we grew up and started to look at the world through adult eyes. We don't need guns, or superheroes, or, for that matter, God.
As the Batman credits say: We don't get the hero we need; we get the hero we deserve.
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White House makes clear: No push for new gun laws
Romney on NBC: Changing gun laws won't 'make all bad things go away'
Mitt Romney on gun legislation: "The effort to continue to look for some law ...
The issue is the mindset of the people who resort to weapons to resolve whatever problem(s) they are having when they decide to deal with those problems and then when they implement the chosen solution(s).
Gun control is not the right "medicine." It's comparable to prescribing an aspirin for what ails you, telling you to drink plenty of fluids, get plenty of bed rest, and to call the doctor in a week if you don't feel better.
Incidents like those in Aurora, Columbine, or Virginia Tech, are rare and have not increased. "Recent research has shown, however, that mass murder was just as common during the 1920s and 30s as it has been since the mid-1960s." [http://wcr.sonoma.edu/v6n1/manuscripts/duwe.pdf] What happens is that the number of people killed or wounded is striking and people want something done lest there be more of such incidents.
What is needed, IMO, is improved preventive mental health care. Without a focus on mental health "wellness" and steps to see that the mentally ill are diagnosed and offered treatment, all the gun laws our governments may pass will not stop these quite rare but quite shocking incidents.
IMO, the vast majority of people in the U.S. between 25 and 45 are more interested in being entertained or having a good time than giving more than a few minutes' thought to their own fate or that of their country. Fortunately there are some who have different priorities.
{Some men are born to guns and others have guns thrust upon them {prphs}
MB "We don't need guns"
{how many Constitutions and Bills of rights have you written??}
MB " Those we regard as most evil - those who administered the Holocaust, or Apartheid,for instance, maybe even these mad mass murderers, thought their objectives were noble, even if their methods were regrettable.
What's the difference between them and the Superhero's vigilantism... which is all about fighting criminals"
{the difference is the first persecuted innocent people;
the second steps in where the Government has failed the people.}{ also one is a perpetrator not a criminal; unless there is a conviction or guilty plea}
lastly was he paid to write this; is this his job??
I consider myself an Independent but in the insanity that is now the mainstream Republican party view myself as a Democrat. I live in a rural area and own a few guns. On occasion I carry a handgun. I hunted in my youth but no longer. I spent a few years in the military and witnessed mans inhumaity to man. It was a sobering lesson. I would never give up my guns because the truth is I don't trust most people or the goverment.
I appreciate that President Obama will never get any measure of 'gun control' through either House - but that shouldn't stop him from speaking out in it's favour.
If the President really believes in increased gun control, he should have the courage to say so.
VP
What a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away What seems to be Is always better than nothing--(The Doobie Brothers).
The "properly run country" bit is too.
Been hanging out with Romney?
Gun ownership doesn't have to be about abhorrent politics, or some ridiculous machismo thing. Many of us own guns because we find recreational shooting to be a fun and challenging hobby. I've shot competitively since I was a child, and I own several competition rifles and handguns with "high capacity" magazines and other features that would make the author of this article consider them an "assault" weapon. If you really understood the mechanics behind these firearms you would find the "assault" designation as silly as I do.
I am progressive, educated, and politically active. I support a women's right to choose and equal marriage rights for all. I support medical marijuana and the dream act. I'm not exactly a tea partier. However, I strongly oppose new gun control legislation for one big reason; it won't reduce crime, and there is no evidence to suggest that it will. Even if the "assault" weapons ban was still in place, it would have not prevented the tragedy in Colorado.
It may feel good to blame this tragedy on inanimate objects, but at some point we have to grow up and face facts. Gun control legislation will only serve to help Republicans win elections, and put our society further behind the rest of the world at a time that we really need to make some forward progress.
YOU might be be able to use guns responsibly, but the sad truth is that most people are just to stupid to be allowed a stick which kills people when you point it at them.
However, I do agree with your last point, it would be disastrous for Obama to try and implement any kind of anti-gun legislation.
In any case, you grow up. I like my brain candy. It helps to reorient me after I've spent my day digesting the news, watching PBS and listening to NPR - just like my cooking shows and crime novels. If you want to suck the fun out of life, feel free to work on your own existence. Mine is well-balanced and fine. Just like 99.9% of the world's population.
As Frank Zappa said ( to the senate )I wrote a song about dental floss and no ones teeth got any cleaner ,There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another."
Same theory applies to films, I went to see Batman to be entertained , and I was , I didnt come out of the cinema and suddenly want to be a masked vigilante.
Whilst President OObama is just that, he does not have the power to do anything about the 2nd Amendment on his own with regards to gun control.
The Congress which is in the hands of the extreme right wing Republicans are deeply entrenched in the NRA's deep pockets. NRA Lobbists ensure that they have enough cash power to derail anyone political career if that anyone supports Gun Control. Ergo...job security. To further compound the issue, the gun toting nutters will not separate the need for gun to hunt with AK 47 assault rifles as a second right issue.
I have yet to see an AK 47 owner go hunting for Bambi in the Yellowstone Park. 'Tis a fact Yogi.
I say if the AK 47s, R-15 gun owners want to use the weapons to shoot 'em up...send them into war zones to earn their licks.
If Buerk had listened to Obama last speech before going to print, Buerk would have heard that Obama has started laying the ground work to address the issue for control of assault weapons.
I wish that the Founding Fathers had simply stated that the right to bear arms was restricted to bow and arrows; Nah...that would mean that the native americans could have won the west back...dont want that now do we.
All are repeating the same mantra and lamenting that we are not doing the (same) things that have got us to this unfortunate state.
Yet this would be a good time to restructure our social and economic and other models. This starts moving from a two-earner family (with its personal and social costs) leading to consumer-driven economic cycles of boom and bust, etc., to a more wizened course of action that elimninates waste, greed and reduces our dependency on both personal debt and federal debt.
As Mahatama Gandhi put it:
"There is enough for every ones' needs.
There is not enough for every ones' greed."